Visitor takes to radio to find passer-by who saved him from choking
SURVIVOR TRACKS DOWN HIS MYSTERY SAVIOUR THROUGH A RADIO APPEAL
ASouth African visitor who choked on a piece of onion says he wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for the efforts of a passer-by, who dislodged the blockage by performing lifesaving CPR.
Peter Greiner, 77, was with his wife Karin, 73, at Meadows Town Centre on February 10 to collect their grandchildren from school.
Greiner, who lives an hour from Durban and is visiting his son in Dubai, bought a burger and choked on his first bite on an onion that wasn’t properly diced. The elderly couple made their way to a nearby pharmacy to try and get help. By that time, Greiner was unable to breathe and was turning blue.
Dubai resident John Ashcroft, 71, from Godalming in the UK, was a witness to the incident and despite having not brushed up on his first-aid training, stepped in to help Greiner.
Ashcroft initially tried the Heimlich manoeuvre, a firstaid procedure for dislodging an obstruction from a person’s windpipe in which a sudden strong pressure is applied on their abdomen by clasping arms around the choker’s stomach from behind and pressing tightly to force the obstruction up. However, this didn’t work and Greiner stopped breathing and collapsed on the floor, prompting Ashcroft to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Eventually, the piece of onion came up and Greiner regained consciousness. Soon after, paramedics arrived and he was treated at the scene.
Ashcroft, however, disappeared before anyone could thank him. Armed with only the hero’s first name, Greiner’s family launched an appeal to ‘Find John’ through the Facebook page ‘Mums in Dubai’. This got picked up by the Dubai Eye Radio Station, which was then messaged by Ashcroft’s son, Adam. The two men were then able to reconnect and an emotional Greiner thanked Ashcroft live on air on Wednesday via a phone call, as Ashcroft was by now in the Caribbean taking part in a yacht race.
Radio appeal
“Thank goodness for John because if it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t be here talking to you,” Greiner told Gulf News yesterday.
Gulf News contacted Ashcroft who said, “He had about 30 seconds to a minute left. He had stopped breathing and had gone blue, so I knew I had saved his life.
“I had a busy evening ahead [that day], so I didn’t stick around [after the first-aid] and I didn’t tell too many people about it besides my wife,” added Ashcroft, who was preparing to catch a flight ahead of his yacht race.
Ashcroft’s wife, Judi, however told their son Adam, and Adam’s wife Sophia, who didn’t know about the incident, heard the radio appeal. When the couple met at home in the evening, the penny dropped and Adam contacted the radio presenter leading the appeal, Tom Urquhart, who just happens to be a neighbour.
“It was only when I was having breakfast with my wife the next day, that I realised Peter was probably doing the same, and if somebody hadn’t stepped in to help, he probably wouldn’t be here,” said Ashcroft.
The incident shines a light on the UAE’s new draft Good Samaritans Law, which absolves first-aiders of legal consequences if something goes wrong.
“My case brings it all out in the open,” said Greiner, a former captain in the merchant navy. “I think the government here has done the right thing with the new law. More and more people should read this and do a first-aid course; it only takes an hour but you could save someone’s life.”
‘Needs an award’
Ashcroft, a long-time Dubai resident and former businessman, agreed: “If I hadn’t stepped in and done something, I would have felt absolutely mortified if something had happened to Peter, and I think others would want to avoid that situation.”
Greiner’s wife Karin added: “John definitely needs an award because if it wasn’t for him Peter wouldn’t be here; he had turned as blue as my jeans and his eyes were closing.”